Jan. 14, 2009 — Board Room, San Mateo Daily Journal. Meeting was called to order at 6:42 p.m.

Present: Jon Mays, Peter Cleaveland, Marshall Wilson, Ed Remitz, Jamie Casini, Micki Carter and Darryl Compton
Absent: Jay Thorwaldson, Jack Russell, Dave Price

Minutes were approved as read.

Treasurer report was approved. Darryl noted that Hannah Hoffman’s scholarship check of $1,500 was returned by UC Berkeley since she opted for delayed enrollment. That will be held in suspension.

Open board seat: The board discussed possible people to take the open seat on the board. We will mention the open seat in the newsletter and invite potentials to board meetings.

Awards contest: Darryl led the group through the Call for Entries for the 32nd Annual Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards Competition. The board approved merging Divisions A and B so that there would be only one division for daily newspapers. The Ad Design category was also deleted and the category Overall Excellence was added to the Public Relations division. The board also added an Entry Rule: “Entries should be made in the name of the creator of the work to be judged.”

June 6 is the first choice for a date for the Evening of Excellence Dinner at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City.

High School Journalism Project: Bettylu Smith and Pat Gemma from the Sequoia High School District are interested in talking to the board about their high school journalism programs. They will be invited to the February meeting of the board.

Request for Assistance; Hillsdale High School’s journalism program has requested money for students to attended the national JEA Convention in Arizona. Jon will talk to the advisor and tell him that we have $500 for their program but they may want to consider the best use of that money. He will encourage them to look into the high school journalism organization in Northern California that could offer help at a much lower cost. Marshall moved that the club set aside up to $500 per Peninsula high school for similar assistance. The motion passed.

Town Hall Meeting: For the February meeting Marshall volunteered to work on a plan for a town hall meeting the club will sponsor on the topic of high-speed rail.

The meeting adjourned in memory of former Mercury News reporter Dan Reed and Oakland Tribune reporter Leeanne McLaughlin.

Respectfully submitted, Micki Carter, Secretary